Topics

For the seventeenth year in a row, Howard County has earned a AAA bond rating from all of the "big three" ratings agencies. Howard was one of only 40 counties out of 3,000 in the nation to receive the highest possible rating from Fitch Ratings, Moody's Investor Services and Standard & Poor's. The rating allows the county to issue debt for capital projects at favorable interest rates. Howard County Executive Ken Ulman said this year's rating "is especially significant. "Through federal budget sequestration, and before that, a painful recession and challenges in the housing market, we have continued to make important investments and smart...

Related "Credit Ratings" Articles

For the seventeenth year in a row, Howard County has earned a AAA bond rating from all of the "big three" ratings agencies.Howard was one of only 40 counties out of 3,000 in the nation to receive the highest possible rating from Fitch Ratings,...

Harford County government has received top ratings from the nation's three major municipal bond rating agencies in advance of a $40 million bond sale scheduled for March 11.Standard & Poor's Ratings Services informed the county Tuesday it had upgraded...

Piper Jaffray was the winning bidder in Harford County's $40 million bond sale Tuesday, offering a 3.0465 percent interest rate to beat out 11 other bidders.
"It is higher than the county paid last time, but that was a different market," county...

Few aspects of modern life are as tedious as matters of finance.
Sure, everyone understands what goes into taking out a five-year car loan then paying it off with interest in installments over the next 60 months. Credit cards are a little bit more...

Legg Mason Inc. reported Thursday its quarterly profit grew 51 percent, thanks to a strategy that has diversified the money manager's investment portfolio.The Baltimore-based company said it earned $72.2 million, or 61 cents per share, in the three months...

When President Barack Obama convenes nearly 50 African leaders in Washington next week for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the grand scale of the event could fill television screens for days. The real action, however, will be the behind-the-scenes,...

Standard & Poor's raised Baltimore's bond rating to its highest level in years — a move that reflects growing confidence in the city's fiscal health and will lead to potentially millions of dollars in savings for the city budget.
The city's new AA...

Legg Mason plans to close a deal this month to restructure $650 million in debt, a move designed to lock in favorable interest rates for the long term while taking advantage of the market's sustained appetite for corporate bonds.
The money raised from...

Maryland kept its coveted AAA bond rating this week, an accomplishment that allows it to continue borrowing cash more cheaply than most states.
Gov. Martin O'Malley heralded the rating from New York bond agencies Tuesday as proof of his sound fiscal...

Baltimore City auctioned off more than $20 million worth of tax, water and other liens this spring in an online auction. These liens are tied to almost 7,000 properties, assessed at a total of more than $720 million.But while the tax sale system...

David R. Craig marked the start of his 10th year as Harford County executive on Tuesday, adding to his record length of service in Harford's top elected post.
On July 8, 2005, Craig held his first cabinet meeting in the morning of his first full day...

A few weeks ago I was visited in my office by the chairman of one of the country's biggest high-tech firms. He wanted to talk about the causes and consequences of widening inequality and the shrinking middle class, and what to do about it.
I asked him...

Baltimore-based investment firm T. Rowe Price closed one of its biggest mutual funds to new investors Monday, saying it is concerned about keeping pace with its rapid rate of growth.
The Capital Appreciation Fund, which invests about 60 percent in stocks...

Gov. Martin O'Malley's decision to seek $77 million in cuts to a budget that's barely 24 hours old is a sobering reminder that the state's economic recovery is tenuous at best. Maryland experienced no gross domestic product growth last year, and job...

A historic YMCA in Mount Vernon, once home to confessed Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers and a hotel run by the former Baltimore International College, is to become a 197-room Hotel Indigo, one of the new owners said.
Focus Development LLC principal Shaffin...

A year ago, it was difficult for taxpayers to do last-minute tax planning because of uncertainty surrounding expiring tax breaks from the Bush era.
Lawmakers were at loggerheads on which, if any, deductions and credits to keep and whether to let tax...

After plunging early in the week over fears that the United States might default on its debts, stocks rallied Thursday and Friday after House Republicans showed a willingness to temporarily extend the debt ceiling for six weeks.Investors clearly were...

Howard County has maintained its AAA credit rating from all three bond ratings agencies after one agency had warned the county might lose its superior standing because of uncertainty with the federal government.
Howard County was one of 38 counties...

Moody's Investor Services said Monday that it was reviewing for a possible downgrade the A1 credit rating of St. Mary's College of Maryland, which last week announced the resignation of its president amid news that the liberal arts school expects to...